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YES!!! Our daughter has arrived!!! Scarlett Ophelia was born on Saturday February 25th at 02.37 in the morning. She is the most beautiful baby girl we have ever seen and we are completely in love. She’s getting more and more beautiful by the hour!

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Our lives are going to change drastically. And not just because we are having a baby, but on top of that we will be moving! We just bought a new apartment in Amsterdam, very close to where we live right now. Our recent house is too small to be raising a family. We have only 1 bedroom and no storage space to speak of.

The new house is 100m2, 2 floors, with a 60m2 garden. The apartment is completely renovated, with all no electric wires and gas and water pipes, just the bathroom and in time the kitchen need to be renewed. Our move in date is November 1st of this year. We will be very busy in the coming weeks, to make sure nothing goes wrong with the mortgage, and ofcourse we need to sell our house! Lots to do.

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On August 19th, we had our 13 weeks ultrasound. The baby is 9 cm long now, from head to feet. It already swallows and the heartbeat is 120 beats per minute. Very fast, but this is normal for a baby when it’s still so small. No sex to be seen yet, so we’ll have to wait until 20 weeks. I’m feeling much better now: no more throwing up daily and my energy level is getting a bit higher. I still feel a little sick every now and then, but it’s manageable.

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Morgan is a young orca (killer whale) who was found exhausted in the Dutch “Waddenzee”. Dolphinarium Harderwijk rescued her and took her in. The Dolphinarium had said they would feed her and let her get her strength back, so they could bring her back to the ocean and set her free.

However, the Dolphinarium does not keep her word. They say Morgan can’t be placed back in the wildm because orca’s are social animals and they need to live with their own family. They said it’s impossible to find Morgan’s family, so the best solution for the yourn orca is to be moved to “Loro Parque” in Tenerife, an amusement park, where orca’s are forced to star in shows. Recently a permit for the transer has been given to the Dolphinarium by the Minstry.

The Orca Coalition (a coalition of animal rights organizations) has engaged a lawyer to move the Ministry to accept a “second opinion” about the future of orca Morgan. After more than seven months she is still being held in a small tank in the Dolphinarium Harderwijk. The Orca Coalition’s first demand is to transfer Morgan to a specially designed enclosure in Deltapark Neeltje Jans in The Netherlands as soon as possible. This is a more natural environment where she will have more space. There she will be under permanent expert supervision to begin the first steps to her rehabilitation.

More than 40 independent international orca experts united in the Free Morgan Group, presented a rehabilitation plan to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation in the Netherlands last year. The plan was ignored while a report presented by the Dolphinarium recommending Morgan to remain in captivity, was adopted by the Ministry without any review. In the Dolphinarium’s report, seven “independent” experts advised against the release of Morgan. The Orca Coalition challenges both the independence and expertise of these so-called ‘experts’. Doubts cast on their independence and expertise are based on advice being solicited from an orca trainer, a SeaWorld veterinarian, a seabird expert, and someone who has been working closely with the Dolphinarium for years.

The lawyer engaged by the Orca Coalition, Mr. Wijngaarden from the law firm Böhler in Amsterdam, has started legal proceedings on behalf of the Orca Coalition. Relevant information about the orca must be released by the Dolphinarium and a second opinion in the form of the Coalition’s plan must be accepted by the Ministry for consideration. The Orca Coalition is of the opinion that adherence to international laws and regulations governing cetacean species will result in the eventual release of Morgan.

“The orca is entitled to a fair chance to regain her freedom. The Ministry should not accept the advice from the Dolphinarium without an independent review”, states Mr. M.F. Wijngaarden, lawyer for the Orca Coalition.

On Wednesday August 3rd, Morgan’s case will be handled in court. To pay for all the legal fees (€7000,-), donations are very needed. I already donated €50,- I’m asking you to please donate whatever you can. An orca is not meant to live in a swimming pool of 120 meters wide and 12 meters deep, while they are used to swim over 128 km per day and dive 30 meters deep! An amazing amount of €2735,- is already donated. Please, help save this young aroca! Donations can be made here: https://www.4just1.com/project/45

In the case of orca Morgan I inform you as follows: The recently issued export permit for the Dolfinarium is the heart of this case. So far, we have demanded that the Dolfinarium follows the conditions under which the permit to keep orca’s for rehabilitation has been issued. We demand rehabilitation. If we do not sue the Ministry seperately for the export permit now, the transfer of Morgan to Tener…ife will be legal, and it is likely she will be exported quite soon. After that, Dutch courts have nothing to say about the matter anymore, because Morgan will have left the Netherlands and cannot be rehabilitated here anymore. I do think we have a strong case right now. We have a lot of expertise spent on the case, legal and biological expertise, and Morgan’s legal situation is strong. Both international and European law demand that Morgan can only be exported if there are no options and the lack of options must be scientifically undisputed. With all our expertise brought to court I really do not think that the Ministry can uphold the fact that Morgan’s ‘need’ for captivity is undisputed. So yes, we have a strong case, so far stronger than the Ministry or the Dolfinarium. Hoping to have informed you sufficiently,

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Yes, today the real life started again! I had to go back to work. I was a bit tired of all the traveling still, but I could not leave my colleages Linda and Karen alone any longer! ;-)

I brought cake to work, because I never did that for my brithday in December, so I had to catch up on that. It was nice to be back, to see everyone again, including our office dog / mascotte Luna. Ofcourse, as always, she laid down under my desk, so there is no space whatsoever available for my feet. You gotta love that dog!

Some exciting things are coming up: our film Meat the Truth will be screened in the National Parliament of Sweden next month! A huge honour!